More research

I finished reading that book I posted about earlier, Film and the American Moral Vision of Nature. I found some really interesting and inspiring information in that book. Here are some good quotes about the questionable ethics behind disney films.

"They allow us to understand how disney's natural history films distance people from nature rather than bring them close in spite of a cinematic illusion of intimacy; we can see his reductionist, patronizing attitudes toward nature and toward human institutions ranging from industry to family; we can see how he used nature as a shill to eulogize American social values."

Disney films serve as an ego-system not an eco-system. They make nature reflect american values, making an american audience believe their values came from nature.

 "The animals in disney's landscape held those same values of loyalty, industry, fidelity, and thrift dear. It was the american way."

"An attitude towards nature that is to preserve rather than protect, which encourages a static image of a balance of nature that must be maintained, and to construct nature ideologically as a useful product for human beings."

I don't want my disney character to know he's bad though. I want him to think he's doing nature a favor. But not in a patronizing way, in a real way, he's just mistaken.

More walt script ideas

It's the last week of my employment at the film summer camp I've been TAing. It's been pretty awesome, kids are my fav. During the last few days there's a lot of editing going on so I've been at a computer writing out ideas for the walt disney bio-pic. So I've described the idea before, and there wasn't really much going on in the beginning of the movie, just the end. So I decided I needed to work a lot more on plot points. Here's what I've come up with:

Walt is agoraphobic. Lillian dotes over him. After a series of nature related dreams he starts to notice small details outside his window that catch his attention. He starts to venture outside bit by bit. Lillian is proud. His visions continue and start to seep into everyday life, nature takes on a fantastical edge. He overcomes his agoraphobia. His visions inspire him to start trying to bring his ideas to life through animation (because they are unfilmable in a realistic sense).  His new appreciation of nature drives him to buy a pet mouse who becomes a constant companion. Walt's visions and dreams start to take on a twisted edge, becoming creepier. Elements from a hidden past start to resurface. Walt begins to realize he can't draw, his visions confuse him, he starts to uncover the fact that he was an adopted orphan. His mother died during a bombing when trying to bring the farm animals back inside. He wanders into the woods with his mouse and drawing pad, he fails once again at illustrating. He becomes extremely distraught, wanders deeper into the forest and gets lost and trapped. He dies holding/talking to his mouse who talks back to him. Lillian can tell when walt dies, she has been drawing a little over the past few weeks after being inspired by walt. At this moment she draws Walt's mouse, an exact replica of the known mickey mouse. She offers it to a movie studio dressed as a saint in memory of walt.

Still needs some more thought and work, but I feel like this is really on the right track now. In classic janeen style I will be employing the usage of a reclusive main character. I've been doing some research on agoraphobia, and by that I mean I read the wikipedia page.  It appears as though agoraphobia is linked to the development of modernity. Which totally works for the movie because walt is trying to re-frame the sanctity of nature, inspired by his bizarre personal visions.